 Hey everybody out there. Thank you so much for joining with us today. I'm going to start with introducing myself My name is Michael Cody. I'm the producer of a project called hashtag enough plays to end gun violence And that's how I've been able to gather all of these wonderful individuals with us today Just a brief introduction about the project and what we're talking about and who's going to be talking today Hashtag enough started nine months ago as a platform to give young people six of 12th grade To write short plays on the issue of gun violence our deadlines are on the corner on June 20th and a selection of those plays are going to be used to Be a part of this nationwide reading on December 14th later this year the 8th anniversary of Sandy Hook and the playwrights that are joining us today have been so gracious in Volunteering the time and their passion to supporting this project and getting young people Writing and fueling their writing through their passion and a topic that really Has impacted them and that they want to write about so Today what we are talking about we had put this talk in the motion a few weeks ago Based on an article that Idris Goodwin had written for the American theater website talking about the inciting incident playwriting in a moment of change How how it can play writing in theater be an agent for change how to get young people involved in that process how to Get them interested in using their voice as part of their arts activism. So to introduce the the panelists we have today I won't go through all their accolades You can read that on the website because if I do we will have no time for this discussion But we have Idris Goodwin David Henry Guang Lauren Gundersen Robert Schenkin and Karen Zacharias. Thank you so much all of you guys for getting together today to be a part of this conversation and to share Your perspective and your knowledge with us Where I wanted to begin was where the title of this topic really came from Idris at the top of the pandemic you wrote this article for American theater magazine And you wrote in this you said this ain't the intermission. It's the show on this stage in this world We the men and women who are merely players in our various roles are waking daily in different plays all together This is the moment where everything changes. We are in the inciting incident Now you wrote this at the top of the pandemic about our shot and the sudden shift out of what we consider to be normal But in light of the fallout and just the global Reckoning that's come out of the death of George Floyd your words feel more prophetic than ever really That what a lot of what we considered was normal really never was to begin with So I wanted to start by asking you like what what were you grappling with? When you wrote that article and now how do those words resonate back a few weeks Later, you know, what does it mean to be a playwright for you in this moment? Well, hi, and that's That's an unfair very large very complex But this is what we're doing nobody said it'd be easy You know, I just I Had a feeling that the impact of this I mean, there's many ways I can answer this question I mean, basically I will say that when when this administration began I think we all knew we all had a feeling that the end like as we got towards the end of this administration It was not going to be pretty That there are there is a certain level of vigilance That one must have when they're Managing people when they're in charge of people when they're responsible for a nation and you have to Kind of be looking ahead looking very far down the road and the person that is currently occupying the White House Did not prove himself to be that sort of person So I was very not surprised when something that could have been Maybe not avoid it with a capital a but certainly we could we would be in a different situation Had that person been more vigilant and reading the signs and basically doing the homework So I knew that once this started that it was going to be on us the electorate to Managing to really deal with it. We were gonna have to step up We were gonna have to and that's what what's happening. It's like we're having to do a lot more research We're having to find a mask. We're having to learn how to teach at home We'll learn how to work at home We trying to learn zoom and what zoom could do an old breakout groups to zoom and and where that gets us to Because we look into ourselves and was like, how can I be a lot more capable? I got to step it up every day When something threatens us when there's something we don't like We will take you know, many of us will take to the streets. Many of us will donate We will support we will share information We will you know, and so that drone shot that's going through downtown LA and you see all those people You see all those people in front of us 1600 Pennsylvania Avenue Sure, this is Pennsylvania Avenue. One of the one of the avenues Yeah, yeah, now it's Black Lives Matter Plaza. So that's what I heard a legend And so and so for me all that to say that to me, this is this is the end of act one perhaps And that's because there's a different version of the pandemic kicking off There's a version of the pandemic kicking off, you know, that that's very different than this but of course, you know, because This is a that you cannot avoid race in this country You know, Kairis one says that you can never have justice on there can never really be justice on stolen land Which means that it Every day we're in this country. We are not having the conversation about race genocide all of these isms because and and so all I knew that all this crisis was going to do was was reveal the places where we're vulnerable and And so it is it is it is not I'll stop there Yeah, I feel like I didn't ask you a question, but I got my shots and against 45. I'm good. That's great It's great in terms of like In terms of moving forward as a playwright in terms of moving forward as a playwright and You know, are it that do you find? Do you find this to be a moment that is opening yourself up to a lot of writing or do you find this to be a different Different part of your creative process that you need that you're stepping back and and And not feeling like you want to engage in your writing at this moment How is how are you responding creatively to everything that's going on? I mean, honestly, yo, like this is the stuff I've been writing about so this thing I've been in crisis I come from enslaved people You know my parents, you know, my my grandparents left the south because of jim crow You know, I came up in Detroit, michigan. I left Detroit, michigan because of the crack epidemic You know, I lived in Chicago. I bounced her, you know, I'm saying like this is this is Full that's it. I'm a writer in crisis trying to make sense of this crazy train called the united states of america and It's a different bit. You know, I'm having to get more creative in terms of like what my stage is but The writing is the writing is the writing, you know How about for the rest of you, you know, moving forward from the pandemic to where we are today In terms of being sort of thrust into a really uncertain world almost all at once how how You know, what does that mean for you to be a playwright in this moment? How have you responded to what idris is calling, you know, the inciting incidents? um, I'll I guess I'll go so I mean I also feel like I've been pretty comfortable throughout my career responding to things in kind of real time um, and I've been consistently interested in engaging stories that have um, uh, a political dimension and that have something to do with the The environment we live in socially and politically um and so I'm very interested in trying to figure out how to characterize this moment, but in a way like to pull back from it at the same time to try to understand it as a moment in history and What is that going to mean? um, because we are I mean, we're always living in some sort of a historical moment, but I think that it has been a particularly acute historical moment, um I would say since 2016 in especially and actually what Idris said knowing that we're in a kind of democratic crisis um, and then these two Pandemics, uh the pandemic of coveted and the pandemic of racism uh, suddenly get thrust into the into the foreground And so this is for me a really exciting moment It's hard and it's heartbreaking and it's terrible and it requires a lot of courage, but it is potentially um an inciting incident also transitional time And there's a part of me as an artist that wants to already start to look back on this and try to understand of what, um How is the country changing? How are we changing? um, is this a critical moment in the progress and hopefully the reparations That this country needs to perform To in order to have a future Just to explain the popping in head. This is Simone. Emma. She's a program associate on uh enough and when we get to the end of this discussion Hopefully, uh, we'll be able to field some questions and answers from folks walking watching. Yeah, I have some questions from from folks on our instagram, um, who wanted to chime into and sorry I was having issues with the video So I was just a black screen earlier, but now I'm back. So hello everybody. Thank you for being here. We're so glad that you're here Thanks, Simone Karen, how about you? What what what has it been your response in terms of you know since the onset of um, the pandemic to now what what has it been like for you as an artist? um It's been interesting in the sense of of and uh, it's made me try to go uh, look at history in a different way like I My children and I are in my head. We always say oh my god history is in the making right now We're in the historical moment, but the truth is every day is a historical moment It's something gets passed and moved on but this the pandemic everyone's slowing down having time to focus And having some of the systemic problems that have been there for a very long time kind of Bubba, you know bubble to the surface in a way that everyone can now see has been Fascinating I had just written a play about a child separation that was done at the Oregon Shakespeare Festival Called the Copper Children, but it was set in 1905 because the truth is There there's these patterns of behavior and and uh and waves of of things that happen and so I've been really interested in finding and exploring that because Um, it's helping me make sense of this moment right now and I've also started writing uh, vignettes about my family history in order to examine some of the the behaviors and thoughts and things that have happened over 100, you know 150 years of a family of things and legends that you're told or things and I've been examining that in order to kind of grow and and think It's really interesting that children or babies are born with only two fears the fear of falling and the fear of loud noises Um, everything else is a learned fear And so I've been interested in the the politics of fear Um, examining my own fears and when you know And also the idea of what it means to be brave I think I think since I think a lot of people are making the decision to be brave to change things To come over that and I think in a weird sense The pandemic has made it so that none of us really have our normal jobs anymore We have more time to suddenly sit and and sit With the injustice that is happening around us And to us and four people and all of that So it's been a real time of of philosophical Thought for me and research and examining Um, you know the other point of the inciting incident is the moment when characters make choices Right, who are you? What's your character and what choices are you going to make? And I think that's a big part of what's going on in, you know, the republic And I think in everyone's personal life where where where is the change that you want to make? What are you going to do about it? Lauren, how about you? I mean practically every single project that I've been working on since after the initial freeze of what the hell is this What the hell's going on and not being able to write after a week or so of that kind of feeling of wrapping my head around this new world plus Raising children and in a pandemic plus my husband is a virologist in a pandemic. So there's a lot going on But after after I kind of found my my voice in that spirit again, every project has been in collaboration so that that has been a singular change for me Written a new play with my colleague Reggie D. White. My colleague Margot Melconan are working on one of our third Pemberley plays we have But then everything is either there's a project with Aurora Theatre here in the Bay Area where there's three writers and it is plus these classes that I've been offering on facebook and bringing as Karen and uh and Idris have been a part of this Just bringing just talking tons of talking and I I think something about this moment where As Karen said, we don't have our jobs as Idris noted Like this is there's a lot of stuff that is being exposed now that has been there this whole time There's a lot to talk about and there's a lot of this weird zoom face-to-face thing It feels like we're having a lot of face-to-face conversations, which in some way we kind of are Even though it's not face-to-face, but it is but we're all looking at each other and we're we're seeing um Seeing each other react in real time And I so I will say collaboration is a big deal Part of why I love this project that that you've created is this chance to have all of these young writers out there be a part of that collaboration be a part of This this reckoning this writing this creative space this strange intimacy we have with zoom like we're in each other's homes All of us are in each other's homes Maybe we're knowing each other better than when we met at the coffee shop to have these conversations and it's a blank space so so I'm I'm I'm reckoning with all of that and of course the the the new the new moment again long coming Of a conversation and this This Unflinching reality that certainly white america is is coming to find new language and for language people I think it's incredibly important for us to use what we're good at Which is words to say like let's find the best and biggest and proudest and most profound words To describe this moment to admit the things we need to admit to talk about the things we need to talk about and to say You know white supremacy is a very important word to be able to use confidently and understand what it means but also I love you is the same profound thing and to be able to to Examine what those words mean in real time. Um, and I think part of what made me Dig in to this metaphor that Idris brought with this inciting incident is The inciting incident that midpoint and our climax will differ depending on who the plays about So for me as as a white woman raising to Half white half jewish boys My midpoint where things change so much that they can't go back to the way we were in act one It might be different. Um, certainly certainly is different To my colleagues who are Black indigenous people of color. So I I think honoring that is an important thing too And I think that's part of why I've been reaching out for collaborations so much so that there is duality or That there's not just one voice I um I think the thing I feel Most keenly is the sense of responsibility as an artist citizen to be active alive And listening in this moment what I'm trying to pay attention to Very very closely are the stories that are being told the stories that are being Constructed or deconstructed of being offered Um, and the language that is being used the words as as large reference the potency of storytelling Is of course what all of us deal in and In the civic political sphere. It is critical and I think that's why writers and particularly playwrights have such a Responsibility and and an ability To be useful in this moment and that's that's the thing I want to be Is to be useful and A good part of that for me right now Is uh, quite honestly shutting up and listening. I do a lot of that You know Lauren one of the one of the things that you you've talked about in some of your videos on facebook and And some of the things that we've done with hashtag enough is that you you approach plays sort of as as thought experiments and you talk about That plays are these chances to Um, imagine what the future is going to be and keep asking the question like what if Well, what if what if we were able to look at the world this way, right? um And remind me like recently in the Tribune. There was an article about Kind of along this lines like if if Hollywood were to take this moment of pause And to look at like cop shows that are stuck in this cycle of reinforcing the status quo You know, what if networks and streaming services services thought bigger? What if the green light fictional shows from an activist point of view and showed what the Benefits and challenges of some of the things that are being talked about in the public sphere Um, would be what what it would mean to defund the police and what what a show about that What a story about that might look like So, you know, what about the theater, you know, we're we're in this moment We're regional theater and broadway are on pause and definitely And is this is a chance for everyone to step back and think about what they would do differently by painting different Visions of something new. I mean, how can playwrights in theater use this moment to ask valuable what if questions And to you guys, what might those what if questions be? Well, the timing is very Your question is right on time because a major Document went out yesterday I think it's called dear dear white american theater or something like that And it was signed by, you know A significant number of of uh, theater artists some of them whom are on this college right now And and folk are doing just that folk are folk are using in this moment of Where things are forced to slow down Which which in a lot of ways was the reason that you know, i'm a firm believer that like Yes, like some there's a lot of people who just have an agenda and it doesn't include You know certain individuals in that I think some people were just victims of the machinery and fear of Turning off the machinery, right? And so now that you're forced there isn't, you know, everybody's been humbled a bit, right? You know, you came out you came out swinging To the first three rounds and george foreman was beating that ass Like, okay, maybe I gotta switch my game up. Maybe maybe maybe I do that rope though But I've been thinking about you know what I mean, maybe I gotta just like take this punishment and just pace myself um, so That that is what's happening. I think people are like I I know I I have this conversation with myself all the time I can tell you right now That there are things I do not want to go back to I also think there is no back to so but I can tell you right now. There are certain things that I'm like, I'm not doing that anymore You know, I mean like there's not not because I'm just selling to the machinery I'm like lucy on the conveyor belt like stuff and all the chopsticks everywhere. You know what I mean? Like That's how old chill night is a little bit Anyway, let's let some smart people get in there. I'm just talking Yeah, David and Karen both of you signed that the document the the one that Idris is mentioning So, you know, let me toss the question to either of you, you know, we're in this moment where we can where we're maybe Stopping the machinery long enough To really investigate these what if questions I'm gonna talk a little bit about what the what that was for people who are watching that may not I'm not sure what theater person doesn't know about this document at this point But if you want to talk a little bit about that And and and other things that you you hope we start asking or posing the question. What if about moving forward? I think I think David's passing the ball to you Karen Okay Well the document it just uh, it's it's a it's just a moment of witnessing It's a moment of of gathering Um A lot of theater artists. I mean inequity exists in all lines of work, but it it's kind of in a sense And supposedly these liberal bastions that is a theater and you know Selling tickets to people who probably all vote as most of them vote a certain way There's some there's some real room and necessity for self-examination and The the things that all I'm sure David and Idris and I could spend a lot of time those things that are said to us and of In passing many times that completely That can completely Unmour you in a sense as a writer About who wants to see your work or why you can't your work can't exist in this space or why certain ideas are too scary or And so I think it's it's a it's a moment. I mean I I still it's you the black lives matters movement is the president here But it's also it's also supporting all our our black artists and also saying white america is not just We all have an iu. We all have to see what's happening In a sense and there's I mean Idris brought up the word fear fear Fears what makes people want to buy guns and you know People saying antifa is coming to certain places and it's it's crazy this manifestation of fear In order to stop change And the truth is one thing that's always fascinated me since I was a kid Is like why do we build up social constructs that really hurt everybody like in the long run? It sucks There's some people who've had more advantages of it But in the long run it really really hurts everybody and everybody's like oh But government has to work like this or this has to be like this And I understand there's certain people have power and they keep it But it really really at the work at the end of the day it dehumanizes everybody um and diet, you know theater People and this is what robert was saying We need new stories to understand new points of view and I cannot tell you how many times people Have because they've seen a brown or black character on stage have then said oh well Then I decided to say hello I saw my you know co-worker in a different light and I was like really you have a live person In the bathroom next to you and you don't think of them as a person But you saw a story on stage that made you rethink that it's Happened to me more than once so uh The the theater has a responsibility Um, and we're holding the people who have the power accountable the the statement for Because maybe there are people um who are watching this who aren't aware of it just Is you can find it at we see you Like you know just spell that out those three words out. We see you W at wide american theater. We see you w at dot com and you know, it's it's uh Really, I think an initial uh statement One step forward to say okay. These are things that we have seen And we haven't talked about them or we haven't been honest about them or we've been code switching to be safe or to um fit in um to You know, basically a white theatrical power structure and if you look at the statistics um Even you know, there's an organization apac that has been compiling Say casting statistics over the past 12 years and at least in um On broadway and the I think it's the 12 major not-for-profits in new york um casting has been You know An average of 75 to 80 white. Um, it's better now I think it's the most recent report which was maybe the hamilton year was 66 But you know, you look at those numbers and I think people are surprised because people want to think That we're doing better than that and then I think like 89 percent of the plays were written by White authors, you know that sort of thing. So if you look at the statistics, the theater is not doing as well By far as we would like it to so I think this initial letter is a statement about that and then and that's important and the next step is to begin to Think about actual concrete proposals Like to the extent that you really do care about this and it's not just in your mission statement, but you want to um address the sort of structural um Racism that exists in the theater. What would be what would be begin to do about that? You know, what kind of programs can we devise and um Some of us are fortunate enough to be You know have some positions of some influence And you know, we have to examine ourselves as well for that and So it's potentially again, uh a great transitional moment When because everything got disrupted we can begin to say We don't want to go back to normal. We can rethink some of these Uh paradigms some of what we assumed Uh was always going to Have to happen I think it's also this is why what's so exciting about this project is I think I I I think it's critical to get more young people Engaged in in what this is because Can I say this a lot? the The industry it is the industry it is the money making mechanism of theater as we as interpreted by some That is threatened like theater as an art form theater as a human need theater as the scene place Fine it's gonna live forever. It's like the roaches will be doing theater like there is no You know what I'm saying like that's fine. So let's let's talk about what we're really talking about We're talking about like y'all can't make no more money right now, you know and so for me I'm excited about the part two of the indictment which is Here here's here's how we need to rebuild this thing Here's how we want to be positioned and integral and centered in the reopening in the rebuilding We're in in a remixing moment as far as I'm concerned like the future is the remix the art of the remix somebody needs to get diddy on the phone And we got to talk about the remix because that's what it is It's like how do we just take what was hot? And just leave all the rest on the cutting room floor and then just hotten it up and just make it more funky and just look more like What this country really looks like and sounds like and I think young people's voices Especially should be key in that and that should not be relegated to the sub genres of like Youth theater or like educational outreach like no they're in this world too. They have a voice too We definitely need to be listening to our young people because of all the crap that they're inheriting so You know and and to me the irony of the beautiful spirit of this whole thing is to me like one of the ways you combat gun violence is you change the culture and If you're involved in engaging young people and finding and helping them find other ways To resolve conflict to express to look out for one another to empathize Art being one of those tools. That's that's that's one of the ways. You know what I mean And all these things are related, you know, oh, sorry Robert. No, no, go ahead well So much of what I was pondering and thinking about before pandemic before mr. Floyd Were things about domestic abuse and domestic violence violence against women and girls all over the world I was thinking about poverty and hunger and education. I was thinking about Certainly everything related to this administration, but that is draining very quickly. So But all of the things that that comes up And gun violence And the truth is that all these things are related guns are related to anti-black violence and guns are related to police brutality guns And mass violence are related to domestic abuse and that is related to education And so all of these things what part of what excites me about this project in particular But this moment in time as well is we can talk about a lot of things by talking about one thing We can find the theater can be that door To start engaging your mind and your heart to look at all the other doors that led to the same room Um, so I think everyone has a part to play in this and part of the what-if that I always play is And I was a young younger writer. It was like, well, what if women were the center of I don't know all the stories Let's just see what happens So my career has been built on playing that premise out over and over again and the sciences and history and politics and this and that um But somebody else may go. Well, what if What if young black women were the center of every single every single story and that theater told I don't know right that What is that like? What if this were the center of the story? So it's it's less about what if the world looked exactly like this vision I'm going to paint and more what if we listened So if somebody else was telling the story if somebody else was the hero Somebody else was the protagonist and we give all of our empathy and time to that person How would that change us? That's the what-if that I think is most exciting and most Um accessible and usable right now to young writers watching this Change who the story is about or tell your tell the story that you know to be true that you haven't seen on stage I think You know, one of the things that all playwrights do Is imagine the other And and I think that's a fundamental ask right now In order to move past as Karen says the fear That has been constructed or addressed the machine Is to imagine In a feeling way What your fellow citizens are experiencing at a human level It it is the opposite Of the kind of tribalism That's currently being touted and and I think it's essential to moving forward As david suggests into into a new and better place and I think theater Really, that's the heart of what theater does and I think to engage young people In this empath empathetic Art form early on Um can be extraordinary in terms of opening them up and empowering them And having an impact To speak to that robert and what everyone's saying like how how then can You know thinking a little bit more forward, you know, how how can theater support the kind of urgency that young people bring? I mean they You know in all of these topics whether it's gun violence climate change equality and justice They're the ones primarily asking the big what if questions And doing action to get to that You know to get the answers on those questions But theater isn't usually the go-to place nor maybe it's the process or the machine of theater Lend itself to an urgent or or or quick response, right? So what can you know, what can mainstream theater be doing to find Ways to harness this activist energy that that these young people have and then to help cultivate their voices As they grow and continue to become Artists and activists in the world get off their ass Give these people a platform now You know this you've got to break the mechanism here, which is all about this onerous lengthy process of development fuck that Yeah, you know, you've got young people who are excited They want to say something give them a platform let them say them let them make mistakes let them fall on their face It doesn't matter the important thing is that you empower them to speak and they will learn from that That's how anybody learns from I don't care what age you are you have to do you have to fail So if you ask what could theater do in this moment to be relevant It would be to make theater happen now make it happen quickly. It is possible to do that It doesn't necessarily demand the big institution the big physical plant the big expensive grant from the fort It can be done much More expeditiously and it must be if it is to remain relevant. That's what I think theater should do I mean Michael you said you were bringing up. It's very hard for theater. It's very hard for american theater To respond quickly because that is you know, Czechoslovakia when there's a revolution going on I mean playwriting was a big form if you look at latin america the way that many of our country's Indigenous reform it said or were people putting on plays and taking them to plazas and doing that It's this idea of a large heavy season a subscriber base The the the holding together the whole institution versus the inside the heart the whole the soul and the content Is what we're talking about and so what I am hoping that you know a lot of these, you know, it's hard to turn the titanic But there's a lot of nimble smart theater companies, you know, I started a theater company 25 years ago All we do is plays written by young people And it's fast. It's nimble. It goes up young playwrights there There's a number of theaters that address this but I think the mechanism and it's a it's a capitalistic System that says that oh, we have to do this like this But you know Subscribers aren't even subscribing anymore because people want something people are waiting for the time So I really think this moment where theaters had to pause where everyone's unemployed is a moment to say How can we how can we do this kind of pop-up? Situation that that how do we fund that how do we give that support? But that's about american theater I think and I think it's time to not just say oh we can't change it This is an opportunity to really look at it and say, you know, it's kind of not been working really well For a long time. Maybe this is an opportunity to rebuild just like we're talking about rebuilding police You know police policing systems and other things like that. This might be a chance to Rebuild and redistribute and give chances to voices that have been unheard to make us a stronger and better democracy Sorry, there's my revolutionary talk I don't need to apologize for that. That was awesome And you know the cumbersome-ness of american theater is actually kind of a historical too I mean it's yeah, it's been that way for this way for the last 20 or 30 years But that's not even true Let's you just go back to say the 70s And you know, joe papp at the public theater just sort of putting stuff up and a lot of it didn't work but you know A lot of it did or people starting to find They want to say something so they just find Storefront and Start putting on their shows. Um that kind of stuff can still Certainly still happen today Um, and I would say to young people, you know, yes, of course It's great to get an institution to produce your play But the most important thing is that you hear your play and that you put it up However, you can do it my first play I put up in the lounge of my dorm And then it did get to the public theater about a year later But it was because I just wanted to hear it I wanted to see it on its feet and you can reach people that way um, and so And in that way you do respond to the moment And especially now that the walls are down Um make an audio play out of it do it on Some zoomy thing or on your instagram I mean a play doesn't necessarily have to be two and a half hours of the 15 minute intermission It could be 30 seconds. It could be 15 minutes. It could be Of two hours again on audio theater or something I think we're all reinventing what theater is now which whether that lasts which I hope some version of it does because I think it makes it Incredibly democratic and accessible to a lot of people for which theater has not been But it also means that you're flexing your muscles. You're writing you're making a thing You're reaching out you're building community a story kind of doesn't work in in a vacuum So let's make it put it out there. Um, tell us about it. I want to hear it I'll I'll I'll listen to your podcast So, um, yeah I'll start to cut you off on I just got like I'm in the conversation zone now because just something you said As soon as you said that I'm like I really hope that for a long time theater is just outside Like, you know what I mean? It's either like in very very small spaces Or like outside and just free for like thousands, you know what I mean? Like I hope I hope that's what's in the pipeline, you know, I mean, it's just a return to big grand outdoor Come one come all to the scene place And and let me tell you a tale Of two families. I don't know whatever That you know that the doing of that in that way Is very much about taking back your power. It's it's very much about the power that Um Over the last 25 years as david suggests has gotten Centrified and calcified In this mechanical system and it's not until you step back as an artist and begin to look at how You are in that and how much of your power you have given away to other people and when you begin to demand that back Amazing things can happen. So I think for for young people who are so Thankfully blessedly gifted with this Sense of endless boundary You know, this is the moment to encourage the habit of Living within your power and not giving that power away not being so quick to give it away But to express it. I I think that's so critical And I think that's one of the more exciting things about this project that we're all supporting And I don't think I want to give a shout out to community theater because You know for for a long time because our theater has gotten so professionalized We've come to look down on community theater and you know, sometimes brilliantly in movies like waiting for gothman But actually, you know community is at the heart of theater and if I think about When I was getting started and you know, we there's a theater called the asian-american theater company in san francisco And it was sort of some professional people and some people who Just kind of wandered in And you know, it's kind of chaotic But we ended up starting of you know playing a big role to starting a genre and so We could we all are in communities And to write from those communities and to write for those communities I think harnesses some of the inherent power of theater You know one of the one of the things that we're trying to do with this project in particular You know with hashtag enough is asking You know young people teen six to 12th grade to write about a difficult topic to write about gun violence and confronting that And it's just one of those topics that unfortunately, you know The the blowback from certain individuals can be can be harsh and it can be vicious like people take real Um ridge with the fact that you even want to discuss gun violence as a topic at all And um, you know, I'm sure A handful of you maybe all of you had to withstand criticism or Harsh remarks from people about the plays that you've written So like what advice can you give young people on this topic or any topic? You know to stand by their voice in the story. They want to tell you know, just how how You know, what kind of advice can you give young people to sort of fortify them to stand by what they believe? um, okay I mean, I think it's I think it's part of the Of what we do we put things out there and yes It would be great if everybody liked them, but that's not the point the point is Um, everybody's going to have their own opinion about it And that's how we engage with an audience If you just think about anything that you go to see if you just if you go to see a marvel movie And you and your friends are arguing about it Some of some people are going to like it some people aren't and that's the nature of what it is that we do So yeah, we've all gotten criticized and we've all mostly get bad reviews and occasionally get good reviews and all that And that is um, that's the life we chose I I also want I want to like tell a lot of the young people who might be watching this that It's really fun to be subversive How do you write a play about guns that doesn't have a gun on stage? How do you write a play about guns that has animals? How do you write a play about violence without, you know, they're they're so I there's so many ways to get around this To to to to get from different points of view and I really really hope that people aren't just worried about the criticism But they actually find a way to really really plummet. What what does gun violence? What does violence mean? What does it mean if it yours in the 1800s? What does it mean today? What does it mean a hundred years from now? Um, that To use your imagination your creativity Well, well Then the story will really really feel like yours Because only you could have thought of this this angle into it that way And so when sometimes it's subject subject is given It actually gives you such freedom to reimagine and play with form and all sorts of other things I mean, I hope there's a musical And and what and what is undeniable? What is human about even people you might imagine that would be the antagonist the antagonist in a play They're fighting for their family. They're Trying to protect themselves. They want the best for their kids. They They love their grandmother, you know, like there's a lot of things we share When it comes to policy those things get very Specified and and delineated, but there's so much about the lived human condition that is universal So what what are those things? So that if somebody comes to see it and they You know have a second amendment bumper sticker on their car What can they walk away and say, you know, I I You know, love my mom the same way that character loves loved her mom I I reckon I was scared like that when I was a kid as well And have that be the place that you start building the bridge of I know this and you know this We both know these things to be true Now let's try to imagine our what ifs about what would change in our end policy that would Bring us even even closer to the same mindset So there's so much about the human condition that is common That you can perhaps start that as a way to as a way to relate to people that And I've practiced that and what I do too because I am I'm quick to judge people who Might have voted for somebody different or I think a different thing or use a word with a connotation, you know But how can we In part of our practice is calling it out and part of it is saying all right, but who are they really Who who are they that we could actually get together over? A cup of coffee and and laugh about the laugh about the same thing. What's that? I became a playwright at 10 years old when I moved to this country And there was a very mean boy who said some awful things about where I came from That I could not think of how to respond to him and I went home and wrote dialogue So I was ready for him the next time that I encountered him And then I started wondering why he was saying these things and I started Building a backstory and I grew such a compassion for this kid that by the next time I met him I was like, oh, I I understand you. Let's have a conversation. So That was the impetus for starting young playwrights theater And that's what the impetus of why I'm so excited by enough is what dialogue Would you like to have with anybody in the world? Yeah, I I think what Karen is that the the notion of You're not writing a play to wave a magic wand and change everybody's opinion. That's that's just not going to happen But what you are trying to do I think is create a conversation um is to begin to is to model and practice empathy in a way that might elicit a more human response to the subject at hand as opposed to the fear machine response Um, you may very well as as a young writer, you know be be told that this is not your place to do this Um, and you know the question is well, what is my place? Isn't it to be an active citizen? Isn't that what you want for me? Don't you want me to be engaged in the life of my country? um Don't you want me to be a good student and doesn't a good student ask good questions. Isn't that what you want from me? um I think that um I have found in moments tense moments With audience members that to reflect back To the individual that i'm in conversation what I have heard them say to me just as a tactic as a way of making them Feel that they have been heard clearly Helps to diffuse the situation and allows us to begin to move a little deeper And more towards an actual conversation as opposed to two defended positions But I don't think you should ever ever Be afraid to have your opinion that that is the point of this Yeah, and I'll just uh say I mean church tabernacle preach seconds on all that round of seconds. Um There's a reason that the first amendment is first and second amendment second Speeches speech is more important. It's more powerful We don't you know marlith king jr i'm aghandi Malcolm X Nina Simone list goes on and on these people are more their words are immortal. You know what I mean? Um, so it's like you know This is this is who we are like our right to have a gun is not who we are who we are Is our thoughts ideas our discourse and I I contend that if You're a young person who's drawn to this in any way You were brought to this for a reason like you you know what I mean? Like you've got something to say and like don't let anyone else pull you away from that because that's your job And also just remember people are often wrong Especially adults You know I'm saying we we see that right now. We see that right now You just open anything you see the the the bumbling foolishness Of the adult world, you know, and so You know stick stick here stick here. You're supposed to do this and just sometimes people just wrong This is like I mean when I got started You know critics were slapping me around all kind of stuff and I just was like I disagree. I think i'm the shit It didn't mean it didn't hurt. It didn't mean it didn't hurt, but it's just also like I disagree And you can always tell the people who tell you not to write a play that you can write a play too Why don't you go write a play and I'll come watch your play I think it also is important to remember that You may not know in fact more likely than not you won't know in the moment the impact You have actually had on someone Occasionally as a as a writer and these are real miracles. They're real moments of gift when When you learn from an audience member How something you wrote a character or a line? Really Opened their world up or impacted them or changed them So but but that's very rare But it doesn't mean it isn't happening all the time in what you do in what you say And and you need to you need to hold on to that truth To your truth and express it as clearly as you can Knowing that even though you may not be privileged to hear that gratitude or that response. It's real It's there. It is happening. It is happening And it doesn't happen without you the word is where it all starts We you've gathered all of these working playwrights and Michael We're all sitting here in anticipation for what you are going to write And your words will employ actors and directors and you know do a web I mean you will start a web of communication that starts with whatever word you're putting on a piece of paper You they will get transferred and it has like an exponential growth out of that And so i'm really excited for all the young writers out there to be brave To write what's in your heart to write more than one thing be I mean it just figure out what What is scary for you and share it with us because we're all sitting here Waiting to be your audience and there's people and actors waiting there to say your words But we can't do it without you And I also want to add a special invitation to um some of you young people who are thinking of writing who may come from communities that or families that are They're very gun owning that are interested in guns because that any type of of character, you know, there's a wide range of humanity and types and points of view within any group and it's easy for someone who's not in that group to Kind of believe that everybody in that the other group is a monolith when in fact everybody in The other group is a human being also And so I think those of you who come from gun gun communities probably have something very important to bring to this conversation Agreed. Yeah. Thank you. David. Thank thank you all everyone here. Um, I we we have really Run out that was a quick hour. We really hit our time Simone and I will collect the questions that we've received And we'll try to do our best to see if we can field them out to some of our esteemed panelists here to get So that they don't just don't go into the void that we have some a way of responding to you because that's what this is about It's about You being able to share your voice and that someone is listening And that you know that it's being heard So I want to thank Idris and David and Karen and Lauren and Robert And Simone and thank you to uh hall around who's making this platform so necessary in this time where we're all Um stuck at home and figuring out how to engage with the world So really appreciate it if you're thinking about writing to play or if you know a young person who's interested in writing to play The deadline's right around the corner. It's june 20th, but they're only 10 minute plays So there's plenty of time to write one. Um, you can find out more information at our website at www.enoughplays.com Thanks everybody. Thanks for tuning in Thanks